Gone for Two Weeks. Did I Miss Anything?

President Donald Trump watches the fireworks during the July 4th Salute to America on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

One of my favorite allegories comes from author David Foster Wallace. During a commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005, the writer began by sharing this gem: “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’”

His point, Wallace explained, was that “the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.”

This was on my mind on July 4, as I was finishing a fortnight-long trip to Europe that brought me to Friesland province in northern Holland, Amsterdam, Croatia, and the seaside town of Grado, Italy, a 90-minute drive east of Venice. I could go on about the sailboat-dotted canals, lush lowlands, and picturesque villages in the Netherlands; the splendors of its capital city; the crystal-clear blue Adriatic water that fills the stunning coves of Mali Losinj, an island off the northern coast of Croatia; and the Asbury Park-meets-South Beach vibe of Grado, a municipality with roots dating back to the Roman Empire.

But I will spare you the travelogue—snorkeling, great seafood, touring old fortresses, watching the World Cup in a Croatian harbor and in a Dutch bar—and instead share the observation that being somewhat disengaged from (or less engaged with) the news cycle here can bring into clearer view the crisis of the moment and show that we are drowning in a sea of stupid.

I know it’s not a hot take or original thought to note our Trumpian timeline is full of idiocy. But I wonder if those of us who obsessively consume social media and monitor the multiple outrages perpetrated each day by Donald Trump and his crew can become inured to the assorted transgressions, ceaseless corruptions, and never-ending assaults on logic, decency, and the common good—even when we recognize the peril of accepting all this as a new normal. After all, this never-ending onslaught does blur into one smooshed-up mélange of vileness and lunacy. Yet when the iniquities of Trump and his cult are experienced more intermittently, they stand out in greater contrast.

It’s perhaps a paradox: The less you pay attention, the more you can see how bonkers all this is—as long as you bother to look. That is, once you’re out of the water, it’s even more obvious we’re swimming in a mess. While I was away, I managed to go through long stretches without checking on the latest misdeeds of the Trump gang—sometimes almost a full day. (That’s easier to achieve when trekking down a steep rocky slope to a hard-to-reach beach in Mali Losinj.) But thanks to the internet, email, social media, and the rest of it, there was no way to fully escape. And the doses of Trump wrongdoing that did reach me appeared as sharp affronts to the decencies that guide the daily lives of most people. The lying, the corruption, the inanity—juxtaposed against families slurping ice cream cones, people lazing on beaches, couples contending with wailing infants on airplanes, fans anxiously watching soccer matches, and tourists sightseeing at churches and old castles—felt worse than usual.

Was that because there was a greater outpouring of dumbassery during this time? Trump bizarrely accused his political enemies of inserting algae into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. (His Justice Department even indicted a former Olympic canoeist who it claimed had vandalized the pool.) On the corruption front, a news report noted that nearly 1 million Trump fans lost a total of $3.8 billion on Trump’s meme coin, while Trump pocketed $1.4 billion from his own crypto ventures. And Trump told CNBC that with “almost anything” his “kids” do in the business world, “they have inside information.” (The MAGA-heads who went nuts over Hunter Biden did not jump on this.) Trump also declared privately to House Speaker Michael Johnson that “no one gives a shit about housing.” That’s not surprising coming from a man who obsesses over a tacky ballroom and a ridiculous arch, while not bothering to present a health care proposal or an infrastructure plan, which he once promised to do.

Trump’s minions kept doing and saying idiotic things. Vice President JD Vance said he hoped that Pope Leo had “learned” a thing or two about immigration from him and Trump. (Does Vance believe he’s more Catholic than the pope?) Energy Secretary Chris Wright gleefully announced on July 4 that the Trump administration had ended subsidies for new solar and wind projects—during the middle of a historic heat wave that scientists have linked to climate change. (Trump’s climate change denialism is far beyond ludicrous; it’s a threat to the citizenry.)

Bill Pulte, the political hack Trump appointed director of national intelligence, has fired dozens of officials at intelligence agencies to wipe out the so-called Deep State. But there is no Deep State. It’s an invented boogeyman concocted by Trumpers to thwart accountability for Trump’s corruption and alleged offenses and criminal activity. Tossing out experienced intelligence veterans for no good reason imperils national security. (At a talk at the Richard Nixon Foundation, Vance claimed that “the Deep State took down Richard Nixon”—a crackpot idea—and said it was “not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions, tried to do to Donald Trump.”)

Budget director Russell Vought, a far-right Christian nationalist, told a congressional committee that he did not believe people died due to the decimation of the US Agency for International Development and draconian cuts to foreign aid—though studies and reporting from overseas clearly show they have. (What does Vought think happens when you stop funding programs that provide food, medicine, vaccines, and health care to people in poorer nations?) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Iran was “two weeks away” from a nuclear weapon. (Fact-check: Not at all true. This is a dumb lie to support a dumb war.)

There was so much more tommyrot. Megyn Kelly ranted about Haitian immigrants who had their temporary protective status ended by Trump: “Go home! Get out! We know our country is better than yours. That’s because we filled it with our work ethic, culture, and values. You being here only dilutes it for us…GO BACK TO FUCKING HAITI!” (NPR reports that an estimated 21,000 Haitian TPS holders are in hard-to-fill jobs as nursing assistants and caregivers.) And Trump’s military removed the Clearwater, a sloop operated by an environmental nonprofit founded by Pete Seeger and his wife, Toshi, from a tall ship parade in New York City merely because it was flying a banner proclaiming “Save the Clean Water Act.”

Nothing was more absurd that Trump’s Fourth of July flop. He ordered a firework display that launched a thousand times more pyrotechnics than were set off at previous celebrations. This excessive assault filled the air with soot, poisoned the Potomac River with perchlorates and heavy metals, and created so much smoke that attendees at the event couldn’t see...the fireworks. And during his speech at that celebration, he declared that communism is “the most serious threat” to the US since its founding 250 years ago. Uh, no. Communism is not a danger to the United States. This was fear-mongering rubbish. And Trump himself has been pushing for state socialism, forcing Intel to provide the US government a stake in the company and suggesting that AI companies do the same.

There is so much imbecility it hurts. During one recent speech, Trump exclaimed, “This world has gone crazy.” That’s certainly true for his world.

The nation is ruled by a narcissistic mad man and demagogue who lies constantly, grifts relentlessly, and decries nonexistent threats, whether it be algae-toting vandals or nefarious communist subversives. His top priorities are self-glorification, enrichment, and the retention of power. Yet much of the media and our political system—as well as many of our fellow citizens—still don’t comprehend this. And his dumb remarks and dangerous actions are—after all these years—still often covered or dismissed as just Trump being Trump.

It’s far from deep analysis, but, truly, there’s so much stupidity and villainy with which to contend. Stepping out of Trump’s cracked reflection pool helps one to see just how distorted political reality has become in the United States. The water, boys, is foul, putrid, and hazardous to the health and security of the nation.

Now for some timeline cleansers:

My favorite canal in Amsterdam, a block from my favorite breakfast spot:

The blue water of Mali Losinj, Croatia:

Plaza Plieski, near Veli Losinj:

A church in Grado, Italy, that has well-preserved floor mosaics from the sixth century:

Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland.corn@gmail.com.

Last week, Trump, when he wasn’t trying to scare people about a nonexistent commie threat, bellowed about American exceptionalism. (The United States apparently is the strongest country in the history of the world but at great risk of being subsumed by the Red Menace.) At a speech at Mount Rushmore, he called the US “the most successful, most accomplished, most exceptional nation ever to exist in human history.” And during his July 4 address, he referred to the United States as “the most extraordinary, most exceptional, most incredible nation ever to exist on the face of the earth.”

But it wasn’t that long ago that Trump’s attitude toward the notion of American exceptionalism was bah, humbug. As I reported previously:

In late April 2015, a month before Trump officially announced his candidacy, he spoke at an event called “Celebrating the American Dream” that was hosted in Houston by the Texas Patriots PAC, a local tea party outfit. The mogul sat in an oversized leather chair and fielded questions from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, a prominent local businessman. About an hour into the program, McIngvale posed Trump this query: “Define American exceptionalism. Does American exceptionalism still exist? And what do we do to grow American exceptionalism?”

Trump didn’t hesitate to shoot down the premise of the question, saying he didn’t “like the term.” He questioned whether the United States was “more exceptional” and “more outstanding” than other nations. He also said that those who refer to American exceptionalism were “insulting the world” and offending people in other countries, such as Russia, China, Germany, and Japan. It is “not a nice term,” he said, maintaining it was wrong to equate patriotism with a belief in American exceptionalism. He derided politicians who use the phrase.

For Trump, it seems, the United States is only exceptional when he’s president.